Oh my gosh! This story has reached its end! Gosh it was such a ride but here it is! This emotional roller-coaster has come to an end! Until the next time that is! Hahaha
And for those who didn't see it coming so far yes finally the title of the fic makes sense to its totality. Because it was indeed never just for Menelaus! But for the tiny baby Mehapenthes too!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Menelaus finally departs…and yet the departure is being also preceded by other departures and arrivals..
Menelaus trains to build his strength is given in parallels with the fact that the horses need to be prepared for battle. Horses get easily agitated by loud noises or flashes so it is natural that war horses need special preparation to face the battlefield
Menelaus probably needed nothing else but to take revenge on Paris, unfortunately for him, in most versions of the myths around the Trojan War, he never gets to do it
We probably expect large scale construction projects have quite a few accidents along the way that might cause delay, archeological examples we have come for instance from the pyramids in Egypt where we find workers actually given burials to the are for their contribution.
Payment in bronze age happened through exchange rather than coinage, hence Menelaus offering compensation to grain and not in some coin. Metal was probably used as a method of payment and measuring value but usually not used for everyday transactions.
When Menelaus mentions "public physician" is based on some archeological fragmentary evidence in linear b tablets we have the titles of "healers" in antiquity -me-no-i-ja-te seems to be the second half of a longer term that includes the word i-ja-te was the term used aka "healer" that also gives the later and modern Greek word ιατρός or γιατρός aka "doctor". There is also an interesting addition to the term, if we considered the lost first half, because of the term ke-ke-me-no which stands for "public property" so I have read the theorizing of the term ke-ke-me-no-i-ja-te which could stand for "public doctor".
In ancient times seems more common for women to give birth either crouching, kneeling or standing while holding onto something even if we do have art evidence that lying down also happened for instance in ancient Rome. I decided to use a combination of these in my fic so I have Pieris initially giving birth kneeling or holding onto something and then made lie down because she grew tired
For those who got the signs from my previous chapter, Pieris was probably suffering from pre-eclampsia and died from eclampsia. This condition is not frequent but is very rapid. Happens mostly due to high blood pressure to mothers and often occurs to very young or very old mothers.
Menelaus seems to be determined to be as cruel as he can be. That was inspired by his stance during the events of Aulis when Iphigenia needed to be sacrificed at least according to Euripides and sources based on him, he was one of the most vocal in favor. However he soon realizes that is not how he wants things to be as he bends under the sorrow of his brother. The same cycle of violence and mercy will continue in Menelaus's life till the peak that is the attempt of execution of his wife and her eventual forgiveness.
The words attributed to Nestor are from a fragment of the lost poem Cypria believing to be some event where Menelaus was in Pylos and was interacting with Nestor who seemingly soothes his pain through their talking.
His goodbye with his daughter was heavily inspired by this Greek song
The lullaby that Pieris sings to Menelaus is in reality a more modern Greek song named "Picus the little bear" and I paraphrase it a bit. It is a very sad song which I thought fitted Pieris (plus as you know the word "xanthos" that I translate as "blonde" often used to describe the red hair of Menelaus too) also the singer Πόπη Αστεριάδη (Popi Asteriadi) was a big inspiration for Pieris's looks as well as voice
The plants for Menelaus's wreath are inspired by sacred plants for these gods I mention. Hera except from her protective nature for Greece we also see her as the protector of marriage and so in one way to support Menelaus to his trip towards the war against those who insulted the marital laws.
This story has gained a beautiful illustration by my friend @midnightproser on tumblr one can see here
I want to separately deeply thank @sua-moonbow and @midnightproser who have been with me throughout the process of this fic, never missing a chapter and showering me with their precious thoughts and amazing comments, never missing a detail!
They were the greatest thing that happened to my fics the past months and I thank them both deeply for it
Also special thanks to @midnightproser for being the one to actively get inspired by my fics to create artwork of them, especially the beautiful illustration based on the spirit of the story:
💬 10 🔁 3 ❤️ 18 · "Great Sorrow" Fan Art Design Cover · A rough sketch for a design cover of @katerinaaqu's story, "Great Sorrow." I feel l
your gifts and reblogs are a gift from the heavens my friend! I have no words to express my thanks to you! You make writing seem worth it and not a waste of everyone's time with your sweet comments and mentions!
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An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
The king of Sparta receives some unexpected news that will send him further down the spiral of emotions
The use of material to cleanse the space from miasma are already mentioned in the Odyssey when Odysseus has to cleanse the hall from the murder of the suitors.
If a death occurred in the home, the house was considered unclean for a while and the people inside had to keep it closed for a little while from public appearances according to later customs which I decided to use here as well.
Menelaus feels hesitant to inform his brother about the way Leda met her end out of fear that Agamemnon might wish to withdraw his suggestion for the marriage between Orestes and Hermione out of shame for the disgraceful death of Leda's.
The death of the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollydeukes/Pollux) varies depending on the source. Some like Euripides's "Helen" mention their death was as a direct result of the shame at the house but others like the elleged Dares the Phrygius mention that they died in a terrible storm when they rushed in a boat to chase after their sister.
"Is there no one in this world that truly loves me? Is there someone that truly wants me?" ->
This phrase in particular was especially hard and impactful for me to write for various of reasons:
1) It was inspired by a tragic story of a little toddler that found tragic death a few years ago in Britain. The poor child was left alone starved by his mother and step-father if I recall correctly and at a video that leaked around the child is heard crying "no one loves me! No one comes to feed me!" and so this child, this innocent creature died thinking there was no one in the world that cared for him! That moment had me affected so badly that subconsciously or not I picked up these words for this story
2) It is something that I personally have thought about sometimes even if I have family that truly cares for me. Sometimes I feel my only friend is my other and that second phrase "is there someone that truly wants me?" is something that oftentimes crosses my mind, unfairly or not
Menelaus mentions the fact that Pieris has followed the mourning routine, including crying and scratching her cheek as her "obligation". That essence is oftentimes touched in homeric poems for instance how slaves mourn Patroclus woefully. It seems that there is social or religious expectations for the slaves to mourn a death at the master's house regardless of their personal beliefs (as a literary symbol is also portraying the great sorrow of the scene in general)
Generally speaking extramarital affairs with slaves or sex workers was overlooked for men in antiquity but there seems to be a line that usually is not crossed; to do so in one's own wedding bed in their home. So for Menelaus (and potentially Helen) take a lover in the very bed of their wedding was considered a shady thing.
Menelaus' efforts to have a child with Helen and failing is based on Homer that mentions Hermione was their only legitimate child but also mentioned or touched further at another story I am working on.
Medication and potions to cause abortion (or forced miscarriage) seem to be known in antiquity mainly with the use of some venomous plants such as Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) which were used as abortive medicine.
The relationship with Pireis I sometimes analyze with an old Greek song
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I miss out of a Hermione one now!!!!! (and yes used red for Menelaus blue for Pieris and purple for Megapenthes for the letters because yeah! I am childish!)
Gosh my depressed and messed up Sparta family!!!
I wanna also remind to people to check @midnightproser and @blucydrawings who both made sketches from Megapenthes and Pieris! We need to spread more love for these two!!!
